Have schoolgirls been poisoned for daring to protest?

More than 1,000 cases have emerged since November but there is little confidence that authorities will act to find the perpetrators

- Archie Bland

More than 1,000 Iranian girls in schools across the country appear to have suffered “mild poison” attacks since November, when first cases emerged in Qom city, according to state media and officials.

The suspected attacks have been described by some observers as part of an extremist response – perhaps with tacit state endorsement – to the protests led by women and girls that have convulsed Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini in September.

But there are also suggestions that some cases may be evidence of mass sociogenic illness – symptoms without a biomedical cause – stemming from the repression of schoolgirls who have played a leading role in that movement.

One of the reasons why the suspected attacks have been so shocking is that girls’ education has been an accepted and fairly ordinary part of life in Iran. Since 2011, women have outnumbered men on university campuses; the World Bank says female literacy rose from 26% in 1976, before the Islamic Revolution, to 85% in 2021. While a 2012 policy restricted places for women at some universities, the principle that girls are entitled to go to school is not a controversial one.

Here is a summary of events and what the consequences may be.

What is causing the incidents? 

Because of severe limits on press freedom in Iran, reporters face challenges in investigating the incidents. But it is possible to put some details together.